“At First Light” Arts Exhibition – Celebrating the Launch of Volume 2

We’re almost ready to launch our second CD, “At First Light” Volume 2! This CD contains the 20 prayers from the Radiant Hearts lessons.

You may remember that we held an arts exhibition to celebrate the launch of “At First Light” Volume 1, which you can see here. You and your children are now again invited to submit a digital photograph of a piece of art about our CD’s title “At First Light.” The artwork will be added to the arts exhibition page and three artists will be selected at random to receive our CD for free! The deadline for submission is 24 May. Find more details below.

To enter the exhibition please create a piece of art work about CD title, which was chosen from the following selection:

“Every day at first light, ye gather the Bahá’í children together and teach them the communes and prayers. This is a most praiseworthy act, and bringeth joy to the children’s hearts: that they should, at every morn, turn their faces toward the Kingdom and make mention of the Lord and praise His Name, and in the sweetest of voices, chant and recite. These children are even as young plants, and teaching them the prayers is as letting the rain pour down upon them, that they may wax tender and fresh, and the soft breezes of the love of God may blow over them, making them to tremble with joy.”

(Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 139)

Your art can center, for example, around sunrise, family prayers, happy children, or other ideas in the quotation. It can be as simple or as intricate as you desire, and can be done in any artistic mode (paint, crayon, colored pencil, photography, 3D model using clay, etc). Feel free to do a joint entry as well, children working together or children working alongside their parents. To get inspired check out the other entries which you can browse here.

Please take a photograph of your art work and email your submission with the following information to chelsea@enablemetogrow.com:

First name(s)

Ages (if under 21 years old, please note that both children and adults are free to enter)

Country of residence

A brief explanation of the picture and/or what words from the quotation it centers around

All pieces submitted by the deadline 24 May will be entered into the Online Gallery, and THREE names will be chosen at random to receive a FREE digital copy of our new CD. The winners will be emailed by 30 May and also announced at the end of this post.

We hope that participating in this arts exhibition will not only give you a chance to win a copy of our CD but, more importantly, give you an opportunity to discuss praying with your family and explore the quotation above through artistic means.

Each person who submits a piece of art will also receive a FREE MP3 from our CD as a thank you gift for their participation. The free track will be the song “Aid Thou Thy Trusted Servants,” the prayer for which you can read in full here.

All submissions will be entered into the Online Gallery by 30 May and a link will be shared when we launch our CD at the end of the month or in early June.

Thanks in advance for your submissions, we look forward to seeing them!

Please note that this may be a fun activity for your children’s class to participate in!

Simply print out the quote to discuss, and give each child a sheet of blank paper and some drawing utensils. Don’t forget to take photographs of each picture before the children take them home (and remember who drew what!) and then email them through to us. After the exhibit is online, you may like to show the children the pictures from around the world and discuss how children from many different countries are learning the same prayers and virtues and working toward the common goal of world unity and peace. We are all in this journey together.

Do you have any questions? Feel free to ask them in the comment section below!

Free Virtue Program

“At First Light” CD

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"Having morning family prayers is something I grew up with, but having a systematic approach that infuses Baha’u’llah’s words, virtues, and music into your morning devotions really carries that spirit through the rest of the day..." Read more on our Testimonials page.